Emma Grede began her career at 16 when she enrolled at the London College of Fashion, later leaving to join luxury concierge and lifestyle management company Quintessentially. By the age of 26, she founded her first company, Independent Talent Brand (ITB) Worldwide, a talent management and marketing agency. Following its acquisition by Rogers & Cowan, Grede successfully exited the business, marking her second successful entrepreneurial exit before launching Good American.
In 2016, Grede co-founded Good American to address the fashion industry’s gap between inclusive marketing and inclusive sizing. The brand, now B-Corp certified, has been recognised by Fast Company as one of the “Most Innovative Companies” and is credited with redefining the conversation around body inclusivity and diversity in fashion. She later co-founded SKIMS, a solutions-oriented underwear, loungewear, and shapewear brand valued at $4 billion and named to TIME’s “100 Most Influential Companies.”
In 2024, Grede became the first Black woman investor on ABC’s Shark Tank (US), and she serves as Chairwoman of 15 Percent Pledge, a nonprofit encouraging retailers to dedicate 15% of their budgets to Black-owned businesses. In 2025, she partnered with designer Kristin Juszczyk, the NFL, and Fanatics to launch Off Season, a sports apparel brand. That same year, she debuted her podcast, Aspire with Emma Grede, featuring candid conversations with leaders including Gwyneth Paltrow and Mellody Hobson, aimed at inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Grede also serves on the boards of the Obama Foundation and Baby2Baby, which provides essentials to children living in poverty across the United States.
